


The B-Sides

by WaywardLass



Series: Samurai Champloo: The B-Sides [1]
Category: Samurai Champloo
Genre: F/M, Friends to Lovers, Friendship/Love, Tsunderes, Two Years Later
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-02
Updated: 2019-01-02
Packaged: 2019-10-02 12:08:09
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 912
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17263931
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WaywardLass/pseuds/WaywardLass
Summary: Two years. It's how long it took for Fuu's wish that  her, Jin, and Mugen's paths cross again to be fulfilled. Fuu needs help: something about her mother's side of family--it's complicated? Mugen admits he wasn't paying too much attention when Fuu offered to hire him and Jin again. It's just good to be on the road together once more. No one will admit it, though.





	The B-Sides

**Author's Note:**

> I love Samurai Champloo for so many reasons, not least because of the rapport among the three main characters. What is hinted at between the lines, in certain interactions and dialogues can be very subtle, delicate, and has led to some really fun speculation. I like that the anime leaves so much to interpretation--it won't feed the viewer obvious and clear answers. One of my favorite debates was the one about the nature of Fuu and Mugen's relationship. Was it romantic, platonic, brother-sister?...It's perfect the way it is in the anime. But I like to imagine that Fuu and Mugen continue to transform and heal each other--but, you know, across the most horrible insults. 
> 
> This will be a series of one-shots, not in a tight linear sequence, exploring Fuu and Mugen's relationship.
> 
> Japanese hip-hop songs will be linked to at the beginning of each chapter because mood and of course.

* * *

**The B-Sides**  
**Samurai Champloo**  
  
**Volume 1: Rhymes on Repeat**  
**Track:[“The Untouchable” - Zeebra](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JbXDTOtw5c)**

* * *

 

  
  
  
“We have to make some money to pay for lodgings tonight.”  
  
“What the fuck, Fuu! It’s been _two_ _years_! We haven’t been on the road for even a half hour yet and you’re already starting with this shit again!” Mugen grumbled.  
  
“Oh, so during these two years you have transcended the need for earthly things, like eating and having a secure place to sleep? You achieved Enlightenment?”  
  
“Close enough. It was quieter then.”  
  
“Do you have a better suggestion to finding food and lodging?” Fuu glanced over her shoulder. She grew more exasperated when she caught Mugen gawking at her ass. “Hey: my face is over here.” She pointed at her cheek peevishly.  
  
“Good. Thanks. I couldn’t tell them apart,” Mugen teased.  
  
Jin, strolling a few steps behind of both of them, lowered his head.  
  
“Are you laughing?” Fuu cried at him, trying to see past the large straw hat’s rim. She looked at Mugen in confusion. “Is that guy laughing?”  
  
Mugen snickered.  
  
“He’s plotting his escape.”  
  
“I think he was laughing,” she accused sulkily, glaring back at the tall, elegant figure, his head still lowered.  
  
Jin raised his head again after a moment, his expression stoically composed, almost…serene.  
  
“See, I thought about making a dash for it too.” Mugen poked Fuu’s shoulder annoyingly with his index finger. “But if we each run away like in the past, what is going to happen is the usual: you’re going to solve your food and lodging problem by getting yourself kidnapped,” he provoked. “And I’m not coming for you this time,” he added quickly.  
  
Fuu snorted.  
  
“Don’t flatter yourself! A young woman as fetching as I understands perfectly well the peril she is constantly under, the fervent admiration she provokes, and how to defend herself—”  
  
Mugen burped loudly.  
  
“Oi—Jin, let’s just save ourselves time and sell her to a Yakuza boss. We’ll split the profit 50-60 and the food and lodging problem is solved. I would also pay to get laid, but that’s taking it too far: I don’t think we’ll get much for her.”  
  
Fuu scoffed.  
  
“One: your math is still way off, idiot. Two: you’d think you’d grow up a bit during two years—”  
  
“I grew as much as your boobs grew.”  
  
Fuu folded her arms over her chest.  
  
“I don’t know why this seemed like such a good idea earlier. You are as rude as ever…And, Jin: I can’t believe you were laughing!”  
  
“I was not laughing.” He pushed his eyeglasses up the bridge of his nose. “I was indulging a thought.”  
  
“What thought?” Fuu slowed down to walk alongside Jin, causing Mugen to stumble into her and begin cursing.  
  
“I know: Jin is thinking he made a mistake in accepting to travel with you again and this time he can’t blame your dirty cheating for it.”  
  
“What was it Jin?” She placed her hand gently on his arm.  
  
Mugen bristled inwardly at the gesture.  
  
_Here we go. This annoying “Oh, Jin!” shit again…_  
  
“Tell us what you were thinking,” she encouraged him. She faced Mugen haughtily. “You might as well, since this one has no thoughts to share.”  
  
“You’re wrong. I have many thoughts. In fact, I had a really big one this morning.”  
  
“I don’t even—”  
  
“Oh, wait—I’m getting thoughts and shits mixed up again.” He grinned.  
  
“That sums up pretty much your entire life,” she countered.  
  
“I was thinking,” Jin began softly, “that very little has changed these two years.”  
  
“Right? Right? Half an hour on the road and it’s like two fucking years never went by!” Mugen complained.  
  
They were all walking side by side, Fuu in the middle.  
  
“It certainly hasn’t for you. Have you even bathed since we last saw each other?” Fuu pinched her nose theatrically.  
  
“That’s an easy fix. Are you offering to scrub my back?” He puckered his lips at her.  
  
She grinned tartly at him.  
  
“Only if I can hold your head underwater.”  
  
“If you want to kill me, just flash me—I’ll die faster—and laughing.”  
  
Fuu shoved him into the tall reeds growing along the road while letting out a low growl.  
  
“You are rude, rude, rude!” She stomped off ahead, bumping past Jin.  
  
“Just. Fucking. Shut. Up!” Mugen pushed off the ground, adjusting his saya’s strap around his torso. “Say ‘rude’ one more time and I’ll string your ass up a tree.”  
  
She squinted at him.  
  
“String my…What does that even mean?”  
  
“Say it again and you’ll find out!” Mugen threatened.  
  
Fuu fell silent and he smirked. They continued walking and after a quiet spell, Fuu raised her hands, tracing shapes in the air.  Jin sniffed audibly. Mugen’s eyes narrowed at her handwaving.  
  
“You gotta flap much, much harder if you want to take flight.”  
  
“She’s writing the characters for ‘rude’ in the air,” Jin explained.  
  
“I warned you, didn’t I?”  
  
“You said only if I _said_ the word. Not _wrote_ the word.” She tilted her head at him slyly.  
  
“What word?” Mugen asked innocently.  
  
Fuu grinned triumphantly.  
  
“The one you still can’t spell, dumbass.”  
  
“Aaaah, bitch!” he bellowed, charging toward her.  
  
Fuu let out a panicked squeak and began to run, weaving through the grass, Mugen hot in pursuit behind her.  
  
_Yes_ , Jin sighed, keeping to the road and adjusting his straw hat against the scorching midday sun. _Little has changed._  
  
_And those two missed each other like crazy._


End file.
